


Subtle Like a Gunshot

by sweetcinnamonbun



Category: MCU, Marvel
Genre: 1920s AU, Alcohol, Bootlegging, F/M, Fires in later chapters, Mobsters, People faking their own deaths, Possibly some violence in later chapters, possibly an explosion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-04-20 00:18:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4766378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetcinnamonbun/pseuds/sweetcinnamonbun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU set in the 1920s in the USA. Prohibition, organized crime and a bit of romance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Pietro examined the fresh hole in his shirt and let out a low groan. He would need to ask his sister to stitch it back up… Again.  
He leaned back on the park bench where he usually took his lunch, watching the people walk by. He wondered how many of them had fought in the war like he had. Besides his poker group, he knew very few veterans. Those individuals had forced him to realize that each individual had their own reasons for everything that they did.  
He found himself staring at his hands after a while, not noticing the footsteps heading towards him until someone cleared their throat. He looked up to see the face of one of the men he had served with.  
“Barnes..?” he asked, a bit shocked at the sudden appearance of his friend.  
Barnes flashed a smile for a moment, “Can I sit or are you just going to keep staring?”  
Pietro moved his lunch box off of the seat next to him, placing it on the ground, “Seeking out your old friends, now?”  
“Not even a little. I was out working a job and saw you sitting all alone on my way back. Thought I might come say hello before you run off to your next job,” he chuckled, running his fingers through his hair, “You know that this isn’t the first time that I’ve seen you around, but you’re always too fast for me to catch up.” There was a slight pause before he spoke again. “Actually that’s what caught my boss’ attention.”  
Pietro raised an eyebrow at him, “And what does he have to say about the whole ordeal?”  
“He wants you to come work for him. Says he needs a man who’s faster than the cops. They’ve dragged a lot of his guys out of the game in recent days… Between the cops, the Russians and the Italians, he says he’s going to need help, and he wants you,” Barnes shrugged.  
“And what would this job he’s offering be?” Pietro asked, closing up the tin lunchbox.  
“Well for now, I think he just wants a driver. Just think about it. Let me know if you want it. He pays his workers well. Maybe you could get yourself a new shirt.”  
Pietro rolled his eyes, “Yeah? How dangerous are we talking?”  
Barnes shrugged, “Look, I just thought I might as well be the one to offer it to you, but it could be the easiest job in the world. So just get back to me on it when you come up with an answer for me, alright?”  
“Alright… I’ll see you at the poker game next week, yeah?”  
“When do I ever miss it? Especially when there’s good food and scotch involved.”  
Pietro shrugged, running his fingers through his hair with a slight chuckle, “I was thinking about bringing my sister around sometime. I think she’d like to meet the girls.”  
“Then bring her around this time. I’ll make sure that there’s an extra spot for her. Think she’ll play a hand or two?”  
“I guess we’ll see if she decides to join us.”  
“I’ll see you then… But let’s not talk about this around the others, okay? Some of them won’t agree with my affiliations.” Barnes looked around for a moment, making sure that no one was listening in. “Just… Uh… Let me know.”  
And with that, he stood up and walked away.

Wanda had decided to join the game of poker, having heard enough of the people in the group from her brother. She politely sat at the table next to him. They had arrived first, Bucky welcoming them before offering them a drink.  
One after another, the others started to arrive. Natasha and Clint arrived together and sat next to one another, occasionally whispering to one another. Steve arrived shortly after. There was a moment where they questioned if the others would be attending before Rosaria had arrived in all her glamor. Finally, James Rhodes stepped insides. Most of them had brought something to the party, generally a small food item.  
Rosaria stepped over to Wanda, stretching out her gloved hand with a smile and a glimmer of mischief in her eyes, “Hello. I see you are the newest addition to our little group.”  
Wanda nodded slightly and shook the woman’s hand, “I’m Pietro’s sister, Wanda.”  
“Well, Wanda, planning on joining the game tonight? It should be a lot of fun tonight. I’ve got some fancy jewels to throw in tonight.”  
She took a seat next to Natasha while Wanda asked her brother if he was friends with a burglar. He shook his head, though he couldn’t help but wonder the same.  
Clint eventually piped up, “Aren’t you going to introduce us to her, or are you going to just let her guess who’s who?”  
Pietro glared for a second before he decided that the old man had made a point. He stood up, circling the table.  
“This is Clint,” he started, grabbing the man’s shoulders just a bit too tightly and giving them a harsh squeeze, “He’s the old man I told you about. The man I got shot for.” He stepped behind Natasha, “And this is Tasha. She’s courting the old man, but I think she’s too good for him.” He moved a little, “Rosaria, the nurse who helped to stitch me back up. She’s got some weird rumors around her, too.”  
Wanda looked a little shocked as the woman took a cigarette from a small silver case. “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s just talking about the fact that I took down a few soldiers with nothing more than my fists and my wit. Damn soldiers didn’t have a clue what hit them. According to the logs, I never left the tent.”  
Pietro smirked a little, “There’s no proof, so no one knows if it’s true. Next we have Steve, the captain of the squadron. I hear he’s now working as a cop.”  
“You heard right,” Steve interjected.  
“Then we have James and James. We call them Barnes and Rhodes, though Barnes is also called Bucky and Rhodes can be called Jim… This is my little sister, Wanda.”  
Wanda pouted a little, “Twelve minutes, Pietro. Only twelve minutes!”  
“Well then,” Natasha began, shuffling the deck of cards, “Shall we play a game?”

It was just another afternoon at the park for Pietro. He had made his decision and was hoping that Barnes would pass by so that he could give him his answer, but no such luck. He kept the seat open, just in case. After some time, and extravagantly dressed lady stepped over.  
“Is this seat being saved for anyone?” she inquired, her shawl’s fringe dancing in the breeze. He shook his head, looking her over with care. She was obviously a woman of means, dressed in black and burgundy, a string of pearls around her neck and a tortoiseshell comb decorating her hair. She smiled at him and took the seat, crossing her ankles and folding her hands into her lap.  
There was a long silence before she spoke again, “My name is (First Name) (Last name). I came to see if you’d made any final decisions on my uncle’s offer. If you had, I thought it would be appropriate to introduce myself to you.”  
He stared blankly at her for some time, “I was expecting to give my answer to Barnes.”  
She smiled and twirled a strand of hair around her fingers, “He’s running a few errands for my uncle right now. Is it a problem that I am here in his stead?”  
He shook his head, “I’ve decided to take the job.”  
There was a nod before she stood up and looked at him, “Welcome, then. You’re my new chauffeur.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pietro goes to meet his new boss and finds out some of the secrets his friends are keeping from him.

The sound of smooth jazz drifted through the manor. Several men has gathered in one of the larger rooms. Pietro recognized one of them as Barnes.  
In front of them stood a tall, well-built man in a suit. He was bald with a thick, dark beard and piercing eyes.  
The butler had left Pietro outside the door and told him to wait until the meeting had ended. Part of him wanted to run, but the other part kept him there, looking over the large group of men who had all huddled around a table and were muttering to one another. He almost laughed out loud when one of the men had been too enthusiastic about something, thrusting his hand out and smacking one of the other men upside the head. A few of the others had noticed, chucking to one another. Pietro grinned, glancing back towards the man, who was almost definitely the leader, to find the piercing eyes staring him down once more.  
He swallowed dryly, but continued to look at the intimidating man. There was a slightly amused looked that swept over his stern features and the man gestured for him to walk over to him. Pietro did so a bit timidly.  
"You must be the speedster I've heard all about," the man inferred, sizing Pietro up, "Do you know who I am?" Pietro shook his head and the man's lip twitched slightly. "I'm Ulysses Leopold Tron, though most call me U. L. Tron. You'll refer to me as Mister Tron."  
Pietro had heard the name before, looking at Barnes with a look of pure shock.  
In the city, there were three groups fighting for turf: The Italian Mafia, the Russian Mob, and then U. L. Tron's so-called "Peacekeepers". The Mafia and the Mob were surrounded in darkness, while little was really known about what the Peacekeepers did. Was this really his best option? He didn't know.  
"Do you know how to drive?" Tron asked.  
Pietro looked away from Barnes and nodded his head, "Yes. I do."  
"Good. I hear you've met my niece. You'll be driving her around until further notice. I'll pay you at the end of the day."  
And with that, Tron swept his hand through the air, dismissing Pietro.

Pietro leaned against a wall as he waited for the meeting to end. It took a while, but the meeting was finally dismissed. The men chattered amongst themselves as they passed by. Barnes broke away from the group, leaning next to Pietro.  
“Come with me, Maximoff. Looks like you could use some lunch,” he chuckled, patting Pietro on the chest before he stepped away from the wall. Pietro followed him, forming several questions as they walked to a nearby restaurant.  
“You never told me that you were working for Tron’s gang.” It was the first thing that he came up with to say. Barnes looked at his hands for a moment before he reached into his jacket pocket, retrieving a small silver case.  
“Most of our poker group is part of something a little darker than you’d suspect. We found this at a site that was taken over by the Italians,” Barnes explained, holding the case out to him. “I was lucky to have picked it up before anyone else got to it.” The light hit the case just right, the floral carvings and a name standing out better than they had before.  
Pietro was shocked, “She’s a part of the Italians?”  
He nodded, “Some of the others might be part of the Russians. Steve and Rhodes are the only two that I know aren’t a part of all of this. I’m not sure about Barton, but who would honestly pass up the best sharpshooter alive.”  
There was a feeling of twisting in Pietro’s stomach as he walked in silence, “Won’t you get in serious trouble if your boss finds out that you’re hiding things from him?”  
“It’s why I’m bent on keeping that fact from him… As well as this fact.” Barnes carefully returned the cigarette case to the inner pocket of his jacket.  
“Keeping a piece of her close to your heart? That’s a little sentimental, Barnes. I’m surprised.” Pietro teased, trying to pretend the awful churning in his stomach wasn’t there. It didn’t help as much as he wished it would, much to his disappointment.  
He rolled his eyes, “Don’t tease, Maximoff.”  
Pietro suddenly had a thought, “What do you do for this guy, Barnes?”  
Barnes shook his head, “Nothing.”

Rosaria dug through her handbag with a grim expression. The room was darkened, something her boss had started doing as some way to make his point that the work they were doing was to be kept silent. She had laughed when he has suggested it over a family luncheon that she had been a guest at, but now she was aware that he had been entirely serious about the situation. Her current frustration with it was how hard it was to see things that should have been obvious. She hissed slightly as she realized that her cigarette case was missing.  
Her boss walked into the room with his three sons, and she grimaced when one took his seat next to her. Everything about this man frustrated her: from the soles of his handcrafted shoes to the top of his greased-back hair.  
He held his hand out to her and she cringed as she placed her hand in his and soon felt his lips on her knuckles. She faked a smile at him and then looked to his father, who was keeping a keen eye on the two of them.  
“Lanzo,” she hissed as the man continued to kiss up her arm, “Stop it this INSTANT.” He wasn’t one to listen, so she harshly drew her hand back, nearly slapping him in the process. He looked offended for a moment before it turned to rage as he drew back his hand. She gave him a poison stare in reply, her hand reaching into her handbag for a moment. There was a glinting of brass and his hand fell to his side in an instant.  
His brothers smirked at the situation, one of them winking at her, despite her disgust. She ignored them and folded her hands together, keeping the set of brass knuckles on her gloved hands, her fur coat sliding down one of her shoulders, showing a glimpse of a crimson dress that matched the color of her lips.  
“Now then… Tell me about what happened at the warehouse.”

Pietro walked into his apartment, looking more stressed than he should after discovering the sum he would be paid to chauffer a woman around the city, but there was a weight on his mind. So far he had learned that two of his closest friends had been involved in something much darker than he could ever have suspected them of. He hung his jacket and pulled off his shoes, making his way to the kitchen.  
His sister smiled at him until she saw his expression, “Did it not go well for you?”  
He was startled for a second and sat next to her, “I did get the job, Wanda.”  
“Then why do you seem so sad?” she asked, leaning onto the table.  
He thought his answer over carefully, “Do you ever idolize someone, just to find out and be disappointed with who they really are?”  
She winced, sitting back up straight, “Pietro, no one is ever who we believe them to be at first… Especially not our heroes. Everyone has a darkness in them, even me… Even you.”  
He shrugged, “I know that.”  
“How do you know that they aren’t doing things with their darkness that would make you even more proud to know them?” she finally asked, looking him over with a soft smile. He raised an eyebrow at her.  
“I don’t.”  
“Then do not judge them too harshly, Pietro. You could find out that they’re better than you think.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my plan is simple: As Pietro finds out who all is involved in what organizations, I'll kind of give you guys a short summary of what they are up to. The only exception is going to be Bucky, because Pietro gets to see that happen first hand.  
>  Thank you so much for reading :)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story and it's an idea that I've had for a while. You'll learn more about the others soon, I promise.


End file.
